“And… awaken.”

My eyes opened in front of a giant mirror, and the breath left my lungs.

There I was. The picture of royal femininity.

“My beautiful doll,” I heard the hypnotic voice whisper from my mind.

“Beautiful…” I repeated.

Tears started to round down my cheek.

“What’s wrong?” the voice asked.

“N-nothing,” I stammered, wiping the tears away. “It’s just… I’ve never been called that before. I’ve never looked beautiful.”

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, my doll.”

“I’m so sick of that phrase.”

“Even now, though, out of hypnosis,” the voice continued, “you’re utterly enraptured. You haven’t looked away from the mirror since you opened your eyes.”

“It’s… it’s this dress that you’ve put on me.”

“A dress is only a dress. It contains power, but power itself cannot act. It takes a vessel to unlock that power. And you, my doll… you are a beautiful vessel.”

“Beautiful…” I repeated again.

“You know it, deep down. It is the truth.”

“A beautiful vessel…”

“Now, my doll,” the voice continued, gradually pushing out the rest of my thoughts. “You must enchant the court, as I have enchanted you. And you and I both know how capable of that you are…”

“Yes…” I confirmed, the trance taking hold over my voice again. “Enchant the court, as you have enchanted me…”